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A relative traveled to Kochi (Angamaly) yesterday by Shama. Online, it showed three services for Shama departing at 8.45, 9.45 and 10pm. I booked for 9.45 pm service and interestingly all services remains same. Bus arrived at Electronics City toll via flyover at 10.30pm.
It dropped him at Angamaly at 8.15, I assume it will reach Ernakulam past 9am.

Looks like Shama combined the services being a week day. Many operators do that nowadays. Worst experience for me was KPN on Bangalore Trivandrum. Last minute trip and I reached the KPN office at Wilson Garden (their starting place) at 530 PM. Their Volvo Multi Axle via Ernakulam was about to leave which I skipped since it is a longer route. There was an AC Sleepr at 6.30 PM, Multi Axles at 7 , 8 and 9 PM all via Nagercoil. Since I dont prefer sleeper buses I booked the 7 PM bus. Finally we boarded the bus at 7.45 PM only to realise it was clubbed with the 8 PM bus. When I asked why in that case I was not informed so I could have taken the 6.30 PM Sleeper, those guys couldnt care less.

It is best to stick to KaSRTC or KeSRTC if you are travelling on week days.

Sharma? AFAIK Sharma has completely pulled out of the Kerala route. Ever since luggage was banned in bused, Sharma stopped buses and now runs a daily parcel truck.

This would be Atlas who used to handle the Sharma buses earlier. Atlas is infamous for delays and clubbing.

Binai, its Shama, not Sharma.

Shama Volvo? They actually have three services - 8, 9, 10pm. Of these the first is to pathanamthitta, second to Adoor and third to ernakulam. However, redbus would list two charts for each service.

Planning to go to Bangalore from Pune towards end of this month. Read in this thread that VRL and KSRTC have best service on this route. I also see Konduskar have couple of services to Bangalore. My questions are:
1) Planning to book Sleepers (not semi-sleepers). So, KSRTC is out for me. Is VRL still good? And what about Konduskar I know they are the best on Mumbai - Pune - Kolhapur route - but for Bangalore route - Any reviews?
2) I need to catch a train to Mysore at 11am. What is the normal duration it takes from Pune to Bangalore overnight Volvo journey? I normally do not believe on estimated arrival times on these portals.

You may check SRS as well, they have good reviews.

I did Bangalore-Mumbai in Koduskar long back (2010) and that time it was not at all pleasant.

VRL is good! you could try SRS or ShantaDurga, SD has Mercedes sleeper's tho i believe

There are a couple of KaSRTC Volvo multi axles from Mumbai to Mysore via Pune which goes via Shimoga and bypass Bangalore. There is another multi axle via Kolhapur, Belgaum, Bangalore as well which starts from Yervada and has a pick up at Swargate. Check the KaSRTC website. These Mysore services may be quicker and may be a more attractive option than the sleeper.

If you are booking VRL or SRS please ensure you book either a Pune starting bus (in which case you can board from Swargate) or ateast a Mumbai starting one. Many of the SRS and VRL buses including sleepers are now originating at Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Udaipur, Ajmer etc. Avoid these unless you love hanging around in Hinjewadi or Katraj endlessly waiting for a badly delayed bus if you get unluckly. If you are booking through an agent be extra careful on this as some agents may mislead you.

To be absolutely sure of reaching Bangalore by 7 AM , suggest you take a bus leaving Katraj no later than 5 PM. Almost all private operators gives you a mini van pickup for Mumbai originating services to board from either Hinjewadi or Katraj. Not sure whether KaSRTC now has a boarding point in Hinjewadi for their Mumbai originating buses.

Book VRL Multi Sleeper ( Wakad: 6.30 PM/ Katraj Wondercity : 7.30 PM).
I am very sure about the quality service from VRL. It will definitely reach ARC / Majestic at about 9 / 9.15 AM.
VRL takes care of en-route emergencies like no other operator in India.

Cheers,
AB

I agree about VRL taking care of enorute emergencies atleast on the Mumbai Bangalore route as I experienced it myself.

Once my bus a B9R (Seater) on the Mumbai Bangalore route broke down after Belgaum around 9 PM in the night. Within an hour we got a replacement B9R which apparently was a spare bus stationed enroute for such contigencies.Without fuss the luggage and cargo were transferred by the two sets of crew and we were soon on the way.We reached just an hour after the scheduled time.

What I understood was that VRL positions spare buses and crew for such contigencies. On our replacement bus, the new crew took over and the original crew stayed back with the broken down bus.

Most impressive was the fact that the crew were doing a final check inside the original bus before we departed checking all the seats and luggage racks to ensure that pax had not left anything behind by mistake.

VRL is clearly in the game for the long run. Look at their fleet, it is made up of a single make, this helps their mechanics develop expertise in a particular product instead of becoming Jacks of all trades, it helps them cannibalise parts and helps them in stocking parts for emergencies

They have built a lot of infrastructure to help them en-route, transit points and things like that, the way they treat their passengers is also with that vision, they treat you that way because they want you to come back to them in the future and you will also go back only if you are treated well

The bus scene sees many fly-by-night operators, people who are in to make a quick buck or live a childhood dream of running a bus company or dare I say it, squander away ill-gotten wealth. That is why, so many names that were there in the past are not there now, they have morphed into newer names

Another operator I think of is Conti. This guy has a service running from Bangalore to Coimbatore since when we got independence. Its a single bus, leaves Bangalore in the afternoon, reaches Coimbatore in the evening and leaves an hour later and is back at dawn in Bangalore. They used to run AL but now they run a 9100, 10 years from now, reckon they still will be running the latest bus available in the India market on the same route

Apart from waiting for delayed buses, the price of tickets on these buses will also be much higher.

Do they not have more than one service everyday? I had traveled in their Isuzu to Cbe a year or so ago. It was an overnight service. I saw the Volvo 9100 headed to Bangalore this evening and an Isuzu (it's pairing bus?) headed to Cbe.

Conti has two services. An aternoon service and the night one between Bangalore and Coimbatore, They earlier used to run services to Ernakulam as well from Bangalore/Coimbatore for many many years. Ensign Agencues at Jos Junction were the local agents.

I travelled once with them on the night service (it was an Izuzu but this was more than four years back), and they seemed to have a lot of regular customers.

They were part of the UMS group but there were rumours of the bus operation changing hands but the new owners retaining the "Conti" name. Does anyone have an update on this???